Diesel 10 and the Little Girl
by Diesel 10
Summary: The unlikely story of the sadistic clawed warship meeting a little six-year-old orphan girl. (Feel free to review or comment.)
1. The Book

A little girl shivered in her bed after awakening from a nightmare. A weird-looking scary monster with claws, fur, and sharp teeth had been chasing her in her dream. He was gaining on her and was almost about to grab her when, for reasons unknown, she woke up.

A tiny whimper escaped from the six-year-old child as she slowly turned in her bed to glance around her dark room. Moonlight shone through her window, providing some light to calm the little girl.

Lily stared at the window for a few minutes. _No scary monster,_ she thought. _Nothing here._ As quiet as a mouse, she slipped from her bed and grabbed her little gold flashlight from the nightstand. Moving down onto her hands and knees, she crawled like a two-year-old over to several books lying on the floor in a scattered little mess in one corner of the room—books that were about the talking train Thomas and his fellow train friends. Lily enjoyed the stories of Thomas and the other trains. She had witnessed the trains passing by the orphanage and talking to each other, but she had never met any of the engines here on Sodor.

Turning on her flashlight, Lily grabbed the book entitled Diesel 10 Means Trouble. It was her favorite book. Every nightmarish night, she would creep down to the floor and read that book with her flashlight. It calmed her down. She loved the book because she was oddly drawn to the villain. Even though she was well aware he was the bad guy, she couldn't help but find his appearance fascinating. She stared at the picture of the warship on the cover, threatening Thomas with his menacing claw. She took in every detail of Diesel 10, from his claw….to his olive green coat with yellow stripes….to his sinister rough face, contorted into an angry, hateful sneer towards the little blue engine beside him.

Opening the book, Lily spent twenty minutes slowly reading her favorite book. Every picture that had Diesel 10 in it, she stared at with a growing curiosity that had never gone away. When she turned to the page that had Diesel 10 threatening Mr. Conductor at the sheds one night, she brushed her finger cutely over the diesel's wicked, devious features. _Is he real, like Thomas and the other trains? Where is he? What is he doing now?_

The sound of footsteps walking down the hall snapped the little girl out of her thoughts. Letting out a gasp, Lily shut off the flashlight and made a mad dash for the bed, cramming herself under the covers and shoving the book under the covers with her. Keeping her head uncovered, she pretended to be asleep.

A woman opened the door quietly and stuck her head into the room. Seeing Lily asleep, she smiled at the unmoving girl and closed the door.

Lily waited until the sound of the woman's retreating footsteps lowered and disappeared. When all was silent, she sneaked the book back out and resumed her reading.

By the time she reached the end of the book, she felt tired again. Turning off the flashlight, she placed it back on the nightstand. The book ended up joining the flashlight on the nightstand. Yawning cutely, the little girl snuggled into her pillow and was back asleep in a matter of minutes. This time, her dreams were filled with Diesel 10, the villainous diesel that was shrouded deeply in mystery.


	2. A Bad Night's Rest

Meanwhile, the infamous warship himself was fast asleep in his shed in the Dieselworks, which surprisingly lay merely a half mile away from the orphanage. The olive green diesel slept hard and deeply. But to the other diesels that slept in their respective sheds nearby, their boss was sleeping way too deeply.

The black shunter Diesel was sighing and rolling his eyes from inside his own shed, grudgingly listening to the rough, obnoxious, and almost deafening sounds that reverberated throughout the main shed of the Dieselworks.

Arry and Bert, the hazard-striped twin shunters, were cringing and scowling from inside their shed.

"Why does he always like to snore like that?" Arry grumbled.

"He sounds awful!" Bert exclaimed.

Den and Dart had left their own sheds at this point, sneaking out of the main shed and going over to the back sheds nearby to sleep. They were in no mood for putting up with Diesel 10's snoring for even a minute.

Diesel stayed in his shed and sulked. While he was trying hard to go back to sleep despite the warship's disruptive disturbances, Arry and Bert didn't try to go back to sleep. For quite a while, they wasted time murmuring and complaining to each other about Diesel 10's snoring.

"He does this to us all every night," Bert growled.

"Except this time, it's worse than ever," Arry added. "No one could sleep through that. Except him."

"I betcha if some tornado ripped through the island, he would sleep right through that, too."

"Actually, he would make it worse with his snoring."

Both diesels smirked and snickered, starting to crack up over their conversation. "Agreed," Bert grinned.

There was a pause between them for a while, making it appear to be the end of the conversation. But it was not.

"Let's just get the heck out of here," Arry sighed. "We should have done this a long time ago."

"Oh...yeah!"

Both diesel brothers silently sneaked out of their shed they shared. As they were in the process of leaving, Arry stopped Bert with his voice. "Wait, bro. Let's see if Devious Diesel wants to come, too."

"Okay."

Trying unsuccessfully to ignore the terrible snoring sounds nearly shaking the whole place, Arry and Bert both crept up to Diesel's shed.

"Psst!" Arry hissed at the door. "Diesel!"

Diesel almost jumped. "What?" His brows turned down into a frown. "Who is it?"

"It's Arry. Open up. Bert and I want to talk to you."

Almost immediately, the shed door opened up, and there was Diesel, moving up closer to the twins to talk to them.

"Were you asleep?" Bert asked from behind Arry.

Diesel raised an eyebrow at Bert. "You kidding?"

"Bud, listen," Arry said immediately. "We're gonna get out of here and go over to the back sheds to rescue ourselves from that tornado going on in there." His eyes jerked over disdainfully towards the general direction of Diesel 10's shed. "Wanna come?"

"Yeah. Definitely." Diesel was in full agreement. "I don't know why I didn't do that earlier."

None of the diesels bothered to quiet their voices at any point. They were certain that if Diesel 10 couldn't be woken up by his own snoring, then he would definitely not be able to hear them even if they were all shouting at each other.

"Okay," Arry replied. "Let's go. Back up, Bert."

Bert backed up, then Arry. Diesel followed forwards right after them. All three diesels left the main shed and were not surprised to discover Den and Dart asleep in the back sheds. Backing in as quietly as possible, the three diesels made themselves comfortable in the now crowded sheds and went to sleep, relieved to be away from that main shed.

Diesel 10 in the meantime was continuing to sleep very well without any interruptions. He was completely oblivious to the fact that he was now all alone in the Dieselworks.

* * *

The next morning, the disturbing noises came to an end. The warship woke up, feeling refreshed and well-rested. His shed door opened, and he slid out, a large yawn escaping him. "All right!" he thundered. "Rise and shine, you lot!"

Glancing around, he discovered that everybody's shed doors were open. "What the...?"

Diesel 10 checked all the sheds of the other diesels and was stunned to find everybody gone before him. Leaving the main shed and going outside, he saw none of the diesels anywhere in sight. "Where did everybody go!?"

He crept over to check the back sheds, discovering them all there, crowded together and very much asleep. He scowled. "What are you idiots all doing in here!?" he almost screamed at them.

All five diesels woke up with a dreadful start and some shouts. All their wide eyes settled on the confused and very put out warship before them.

Den started to speak first. "Uh...well...we just wanted to...uh...well, what I mean is-"

"What he means is we couldn't sleep last night with you snoring the way you were," Dart interrupted nervously.

"He sounded just awful, too," Bert added, glancing at Arry and Diesel. "Didn't he sound just awful?"

"QUIET!" Diesel 10 roared, frightening and shutting up the diesels. "Never mind the way I snore! All of you, get out of there and get to work!" Backing away, the large diesel went off to work, growling and grumbling and muttering to himself.


	3. The Beginning of an Adventure

"Rise and shine, Lily!"

The same woman from last night opened the door and walked up to Lily asleep in bed. "Breakfast is ready, dear."

Lily stirred, her eyes blinking open. She stared up at the kindly middle-aged woman above her.

"Good morning, Lily," the woman greeted with a smile.

Lily sat up and returned the woman's smile with her own cute little smile. "Good morning, Miss Evans." Her voice came out soft and tired.

"I'll let you get dressed, dear. Come down when you're ready."

"Yes, ma'am." Lily pushed herself out of bed, watching Miss Evans walk out of the room. The woman was the only mother the girl knew. She had never known her parents, since they had both passed away in a car accident when she was only several months old. Because of how young she had been then, she recalled no memory of them.

After making a trip to the bathroom, she got dressed into a light blue t-shirt and light pink shorts, then brushed her hair. Her hair was dark brown and wavy, ending at her waist.

Then she left her room, walking down the hall and descending the noisy wooden stairs. She wandered up to the dining room table where other children sat along with Miss Evans. It was a small orphanage. There were only several other children that lived in the orphanage with Lily. Miss Evans was the only adult, owning and running the orphanage by herself.

Lily sat and ate eggs and hashbrowns with the group. Sometimes, she was very quiet during the conversations that ensued. Other times, she had something to say and grew more talkative, especially when Miss Evans or one of the children addressed her.

After breakfast, Lily helped to clear off the table with Miss Evans and the other kids. Miss Evans kept the children well-behaved and had taught them responsibility.

Lily walked up to Miss Evans. The woman was washing dishes. The little girl handed her the last remaining dishes.

"Thank you, dear." Miss Evans accepted the dishes from the girl's tiny hands and set them down in the kitchen sink.

"May I go out and play, Miss Evans?"

Miss Evans began scrubbing away at a plate. "Of course, dear," she replied, assuming the girl was wanting to go to the playground out back.

"Thanks." Smiling, Lily raced out the back door to the playground. A few of the other kids joined her and made a beeline straight for the slides.

But Lily didn't go to the slides. Nor did she swing on the swings. She wandered slowly up to the fence line, grabbing onto the cold metal fence with her hands. She stared at the abundance of green trees and the rolling hills beyond. She didn't really feel like playing on the playground today. She wanted to talk to a train. She wanted to ask a train about Diesel 10, to know if the big diesel existed and where he was.

Lily moved over to the gate and unlatched it. She had never opened this gate before, but she had seen Miss Evans use it, so she knew how it worked. Slipping out, she responsibly closed the gate behind her and sneaked around to the front of the building without any of the other children noticing.

She stood on the platform in front of the orphanage, looking both ways down the railroad tracks. She didn't see an engine coming from either direction, until…..

 _Peep! Peep!_

A little blue engine coasted slowly down a track, about to pass the orphanage. Lily gasped and recognized the train instantly from her books. "Thomas!" she shouted in her adorable childish voice, waving her arms at him and hoping he'd take notice of her and stop. "Thomas!" Her little heart pounded frantically. She was finally getting her chance to meet one of the talking trains….

 _Peep! Peep!_ Thomas coasted to a stop beside the orphanage as he saw the little girl waving her arms and calling him. "Hello there!" he greeted her with a kind smile. "What's your name?"

Lily beamed at him. "I'm Lily!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Thomas, can I ride you?" She was oblivious to Miss Evans walking out and coming up to stand behind her. "Pleeeaaase?"

Miss Evans spoke up, to Lily's surprise. "She can go," she nodded. "Look after her, Thomas." She sent the blue engine a smile.

"Don't worry, ma'am! I'll take good care of her." Thomas grinned at Lily. "Hop aboard, Lily!" It was plain to see that he was excited himself.

Thanking Miss Evans, Lily boarded Thomas's cab. A newfound thrill swept over her as she felt Thomas begin to move underneath her. She felt like she was flying.

Thomas puffed carefully at a slow pace, knowing that he was carrying precious cargo. Lily stuck her head out of the cab and called out to Thomas, her dark brown hair flying in the wind. "Thomas, I want to ask you something."

Thomas coasted to a smooth stop and glanced back. "Yes, Lily?"

Lily paused. "Um...is Diesel 10 real?"

Thomas blinked in surprise, her question coming across as startling to him. "Yes…he is."

Lily was quiet for a moment, processing the information she had been given. "Where is he?"

"Um…he's at the Dieselworks most of the time. Sometimes, he passes through other parts of Sodor…"

"Could you take me to him?"

Thomas thought her other questions were startling, but this one nearly horrified him. "Uhhh...well….I don't know if that would be very safe, Lily. Diesel 10's not exactly some teddy bear you can just go up to and hug and cuddle with and talk to. He's really very mean. He's a bad diesel."

"Yeah. I know." Lily paused, thinking about Thomas's words. "But…can I see him?"

Thomas paused. "Well…okay. But we must be very careful," he warned, starting forwards again. Moments later, he entered a secluded region where the track split in two. The right track forked off to nowhere, and the left track headed straight past a sign that read _DIESELWORKS_. Thomas followed the left line with a sense of foreboding fear. He really did not want to go to the Dieselworks and meet Diesel 10 again. He was doing this just for Lily.

Soon the trees parted to reveal an expanse of desert and cliffs. Ahead loomed the Dieselworks, lying in wait as though prepared to swallow the little blue engine and his young human cargo.


	4. The Dieselworks

Lily soaked up the sights with intrigued eyes. She scanned the area carefully, expecting to see Diesel 10 show up at any moment. But she discovered no engine anywhere. The region appeared to be empty.

As Thomas coasted tentatively up to the main shed of the Dieselworks, he stopped when Den and Dart came rolling out of the shadows of the main shed and up to him.

"Hello, Thomas," Den greeted with a kind smile.

"Hey, Den." Thomas returned the greeting with a smile.

"Whatcha doing here?" Dart raised an eyebrow, surprised to see Thomas here. "Anything we can help you with?"

Before Thomas could respond, Den cut in. "Uh, wait a minute. Is that a…..?"

Dart blinked as he spotted Lily hanging her head out of Thomas's cab and staring at them. "A girl..." He finished Den's statement. Both diesels were stunned by the little girl's presence. "Are you doing some kind of children's field trip, Thomas?" Dart asked.

"No," Thomas replied. "I just have one girl on board who wanted to pay a visit." As he was speaking, Lily was stepping off Thomas carefully and walking up to the diesels curiously. "Her name is Lily."

The diesels glanced down at Lily walking up to them. "Well, hello there, Lily." Den smiled warmly at the little girl.

"Hey, Lily!" Dart greeted.

Lily's curiosity of these two strange diesels temporarily turned to shyness as she observed how warm and friendly they were to her. "Hi." The word slipped out as she grabbed her hair and pulled it into her face to hide how shy she was for the moment. After a second, she giggled and brushed her hair away, grinning adorably at the diesels.

Den and Dart grinned and sneaked brief smiles at each other, finding Lily to be very sweet and adorable.

"What's your names?" she asked them in her cute six-year-old voice.

"Oh. I'm Den."

"And I'm Dart."

"Nice to meet you," Lily responded, remembering her manners Miss Evans had taught her.

The shunters smiled. "Nice to meet you, too," Den smiled.

"So...we should show you around," Dart announced. "Would you like that, Lily?"

"Yes!" Lily said excitedly.

Thomas was smiling the whole time at their interactions, but then he suddenly remembered something important. "Oh, no!" he exclaimed, surprising the diesels. "I completely forgot! I have to go fetch my coaches Annie and Clarabel. Oh, dear..." Now what was he to do? He felt responsible for Lily. He didn't want to just leave her….

"Oh, that's all right, Thomas," Dart assured. "We'll take care of your little friend for you."

Thomas felt a bubble of relief. "Thank you, Dart. I'll try to be back soon. But if I'm not back later, would one of you be sure she gets back to the orphanage safely?"

"Of course, Thomas," Den smiled kindly.

"Thank you, Den!" Thomas chuffed backwards to leave the area. "See you later, Lily!"

Lily waved. "Bye, Thomas!"

"She's in an orphanage," Den mumbled to Dart. "Poor little thing."

"Yes. I know," Dart mumbled back. "Shame she doesn't have a mom and dad like most children do."

Oblivious to their mumblings, Lily climbed up into Den's cab carefully, almost crawling at some points. "Are you going to take me to Diesel 10?" she asked innocently.

The shunters were stunned. "Oh. Uhhhhh…." Den began. "Uh…don't know. Uh, well, what I mean to say is-"

"What Den means to say is, uh, sure," Dart stumbled all over himself. "Except he's not here right now. He had to take off and work with some trees. But he'll be back," he continued on nervously. "In the meantime, you can come inside and meet Diesel and Arry and Bert. I'm sure they'd be willing to chat with ya until Diesel 10 comes back." _I hope._

Lily nodded slowly, her little mind processing what Dart had said. "Oh, okay." She attempted to picture what Diesel 10 might be doing with these trees Dart was talking about. _Is he taking care of all the sick ones? Is he taking care of the little baby trees?_ She had completely misunderstood what Dart was talking about, not realizing that the warship's current job was really taking logs to a building site and moving heavy branches off rails.

Den and Dart began to roll backwards at a slow pace, the shadows of the Dieselworks consuming them as they disappeared inside. Lily took in the sight of what was inside the Dieselworks with wide eyes. It was so giant to her. Almost immediately, she noticed the three diesels up above her, staring down at them from the higher level in the Dieselworks. "Is that Diesel and Arry and Bert?" she asked Den slowly, keeping her curious eyes fixed on the three diesels.

"Yes, that's them," Den replied. He and Dart edged onto the turntable, which lifted them up to be level with the other three diesels.

"Wish we could stay and chat with you, Lily," Dart said. "But duty calls. We'll be working right outside if you need any of us, and Diesel, Arry, and Bert will be sure to keep you company in the meantime."

Diesel, Arry, and Bert each raised a brow, wondering what in the world was going on.

"Okay." Lily stepped down off Den, taking her time so she wouldn't fall and hurt herself. Den and Dart then left the Dieselworks, leaving Lily alone with three other diesel strangers.

Lily stood in front of the black shunter, staring up at him curiously and rather shyly. They were all staring at her, which made her feel shy again. "H-Hi…." She waved at them slowly. The diesels intimidated her. They all looked rather sinister, and they were gigantic to her. "M-My name is Lily."

Bert spoke up, startling Lily with his deep voice, even though he was the furthest diesel away from her. "Hey there." His mouth curved up on one side into a half smile, trying not to look like his typically devious self. Babysitting kids was not the strongest point of these three diesels.

The other two diesels glanced at Bert, then back to the little girl near them. "Hello, little Lily," Arry piped up, his voice identical to Bert's. "Nice to know ya." He forced a pleasant smile to her, also trying hard to make sure his smile was not sinister in any way. Looking devious came as naturally to the diesels as breathing.

Lily smiled shyly, feeling better when the two hazard-striped diesels acknowledged her. They sure looked scary. But they seemed to look better when they smiled. Slipping around Diesel, she made a beeline for Arry. "Are you Diesel?" she guessed innocently, staring up at the slightly scruffy shunter.

Arry gave a short, weak chuckle. "No, I'm not Diesel. That's Diesel right behind ya," he said, gesturing to the black shunter with his eyes. "I'm Arry. And this is Bert," he said, jerking his eyes over to the even scruffier shunter next to him.

Lily stared at the twins. "You look the same," she observed.

Arry chuckled. "Well, there's one slight difference that tells us apart. Bert has more stubble than I do."

Lily paused and scrunched up her face in adorable confusion. "What's stubble?"

Arry's eyes widened slightly. "Oh. Yeah. It's whiskers. The whiskers on our chins. Bert has more of it than I do."

"Oh." She giggled as she stared at the stubble on their chins, especially on Bert's. "That's funny."

The twins glanced at each other, smirked, and then smiled down at her.

With a smile, Lily shifted her gaze back to Diesel behind her, turning and striding up to him. She stared at his face. "You don't have any stubble, Diesel."

Diesel blinked and cleared his throat. "Uh, no. No, I don't."

Lily cocked her head at Diesel curiously, observing his uncomfortable and slightly dark expression. "Are you shy?" she asked innocently.

Diesel's eyes widened. "Huh? What..."

Arry's and Bert's closed mouths tightened firmly. They were smirking and trying not to laugh.

"It's okay." Reaching out a kind little hand to him, Lily stroked Diesel's buffer. "I get shy, too. But it goes away soon once I get used to people."

The appalled expression on Diesel's face was too much for Arry and Bert to handle. Both brothers burst into laughter.

Diesel's face flushed in humiliation. Black smoke shot out from each of his sides from the embarrassment. "I'm not shy, Lily," he protested. "Just, uh….I'm just….not used to babysitting children," he mumbled, sulking and shooting a glare at Arry and Bert.

Lily nodded. "Oh." She looked back and forth between the laughing diesels and the uncomfortable Diesel, wondering what was so funny.

Then a low diesel horn sounded, deeply and ominously, causing Lily and the diesels to look quickly in the direction the noise was coming from. Lily felt her heart begin to pound as she saw a long huge diesel slide ominously into the Dieselworks and crawl onto the turntable. She recognized him instantly from her favorite book.

 _Diesel 10._


End file.
